“Another Nakba”: in Gaza, a psychological and human trauma that will take generations to heal, according to the UN
The UN special rapporteur on the right to housing, Balakrishnan Rajagopal, told Al Jazeera that Palestinians returning to northern Gaza, after the partial withdrawal of Israeli forces, face “profound trauma” as they find only ruins where their homes and neighborhoods once stood. “The psychological impacts are immense, and that’s what we’re seeing today as people come back.”he said. Balakrishnan Rajagopal urged Israel to immediately allow the entry of tents and caravans to shelter the hundreds of thousands of displaced people, recalling that “ no significant help » could not enter until then because of the blockade.
According to the UN, 92% of residential buildings in the Gaza Strip have been destroyed or damaged since the start of the war, which has already claimed more than 67,700 lives since October 2023. Balakrishnan Rajagopal, who described this policy as “domicide”, believes that the systematic destruction of Palestinian homes constitutes a central element of the ongoing genocide. He warns that the reconstruction of Gaza “will take generations” and compares the current tragedy to the Nakba of 1948, the mass expulsion of Palestinians during the creation of Israel: “What has happened in the last two years is another Nakba. »
As displaced people flock north in the hope of finding their homes, images of desolation remind us of the scale of the humanitarian and psychological catastrophe. The streets of Gaza City are nothing but rubble, and families are trying to rebuild a semblance of life amid the rubble, often without water, electricity or shelter. For survivors, material reconstruction is only the first step in a long process of psychological healing, marked by loss, fear and feelings of abandonment. But amid the ruins, the Palestinian people continue to embody a resilience that defies time and history — that of a people who, despite everything, refuse to abandon their land and their memory.
